Wednesday, June 29, 2011

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But ...They are brother and sister.

Review:

It took me a while to write this review, mainly because Forbidden took me in a very intense emotional rollercoaster.

This story is definitely capable of getting to you and challenging you emotionally, intellectually and psychologically.

Maya and Lochan are two teenagers who have assumed the role of parents for their three younger siblings after their father left them and their mother became absent and started to drink.

Maya and Lochan were forced to grow up too fast so they could take care of their siblings. Too much responsibility was bestowed put upon them and they quickly realize that by being forced to deal with things they shouldn’t they have grown closer and closer to each other. They eventually realize that their feelings have developed beyond the kind of love you feel for your brother or sister.

Maya and Lochan are drawn to each other and fall in love even though they know their relationship will be seen as wrong and that it can never be discovered unless they want to see their siblings being taken away.

Lochan was my favorite character. He suffers from severe social anxiety and can only truly relax when he’s with his family. He’s sweet, though; extremely intelligent and willing to do whatever it takes to keep his family together.

Lochan completely won me over and I could practically feel his despair and confusion when his feelings for Maya started to develop. He was such a complex character, I think it was impossible for me not to like him.

What I liked about Maya was the fact she was also willing to do anything for her family. Maya’s sweet and loyal and maybe a bit selfish at times.

Maya and Lochan’s relationship and love is beautifully written. Their feelings come across as real and incredibly deep and it’s almost impossible to think about it as wrong.

I think you, like me, will find yourself rooting for them and wishing something good would happen so they could be together.

I saw the end of the book coming but it still affected me.

Tabitha Suzuma has created a wonderful and intense story about a strong love that blossomed under very disastrous circumstances.

Forbidden is a heartbreaking book that will make you think. Lochan and Maya captured my heart and I believe they will do the same to you.

The book deals with a taboo topic and I know a lot of people will stay away from it because of that but I don’t think the goal of this story is neither to condemn nor to condone a relationship between siblings. Its goal is simply to make you think about why some kinds of love are accepted and others are not.

Again, thank you so much for participating last week and letting me know what your Top Ten Book Quotes are.

This week I'll ask you to fill two forms, one for Top Ten Dynamic Duos/BFFS and one for Top Ten Villains. This way, the final feature giveaway will run for two weeks instead of just one.

Schedule:

June 25th: Post about Top Ten Quotes ; Form for Top Ten Dynamic Duos/BFFS and Form for Top Ten VillainsJuly 2nd: Post about Top Ten Dynamic Duos/BFFS and Top Ten Villains; Form for Top Ten Book CoversJuly 9th: Post about Top Ten Book Covers; Giveaway AnnouncementJuly 23rd: Winners Announcement

If you want to participate, fill in this week’s forms. They are open until Friday (July 1st). Remember that by filling the forms you're immediately entering the surprise giveaway!

You’ll notice in the form that you need to tell me at least three of your top choices for the week. That will count as one entry. Extra entries can be won by filling the form with more than just three options or by spreading the word about this feature and giveaway.

Good luck and thank you for participating! This is International!

And guess what? I'll be hosting another little feature giveaway this week. The big surprise giveaway will only be hosted when this feature ends, though.If you have filled one of the previous forms or this week's form you're immediately entering the giveaway. I'll let you know all about this giveaway later today!

I know the Book Quotes form was a difficult one to fill and I'm sure you're curious to see the results.

This post will be a little different because I think we all know it was almost impossible for us all to choose the same quotes, right? Only one quote received more than one vote so that quote will be our number one.

The other nine numbers will be the books, series or characters with more quotes nominated.

(Click on the image to be taken to goodreads)

10 - There were a lot of ties for this place so instead of posting all the quotes I'll post a few about books!

"A book reads the better which is our own, and has been so long known to us, that we know the topography of its blots, and dog's ears, and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins." by Charles Lamb

"It is a good plan to have a book with you in all places and at all times." by Oliver Wendell Holmes

"The important people in our lives leave imprints. They may stay or go in the physical realm, but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your heart. There's no getting over that.

Dash, being the great character that he is, received one vote for character with the best quotes.

"Okay, God, I thought. Get me out of this and I’ll stop my half-assed church-going ways. You got me past a pack of Strigoi tonight. I mean, trapping that one between the doors really shouldn't have worked, so clearly you're on board. Let me get out of here, and I’ll...I don’t know. Donate Adrian’s money to the poor. Get baptized. Join a convent. Well, no. Not that last one."

"I decided a long as I'm going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly."

"Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me."

"Do I dazzle you?"

Bella and Jacob received votes for the characters with the best quotes out there.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A haunted castle, a handsome young man dead for four hundred years, one heck of a scary portrait of a witch, and a treasure hunt -- not to mention a princess for a roommate! -- all await 15 year old American girl Caitlyn Monahan when she earns a scholarship to a French boarding school.

There are secrets behind the stone walls of Chateau de la Fortune, buried for centuries along with the mystery of who killed Raphael, the charming ghost who visits Caitlyn at night. But as Caitlyn unearths the history of the castle, nothing scares her as badly as the secret she learns about herself, and the reason she was chosen to come to the Fortune School.

And nothing breaks her heart as badly as falling in love with a dead guy

Review:

I first heard about this book a while ago and, at first, wasn’t too interested in it but after reading some reviews I decided to give Wake Unto Me a try. In the end, I really enjoyed the book.

Caitlyn Monahan is a 15 year old girl who feels like she’s different from everyone else. She constantly feels alone and like she is misunderstood. To make her feel even more different, Caitlyn has vivid dreams of the past that seem extremely real to her.

Caitlyn is afraid her parents will think she is crazy and when the opportunity to move to France to attend a private school presents itself, she doesn’t hesitate.

Once she gets to France, Caitlyn starts to dream with a mysterious and extremely cute boy, she’s immediately attracted to.

The book is full of interesting characters especially Caitlyn and Raphael. They are well written and their stories develop nicely. Raphael came off as a really nice guy and who doesn’t like a nice boy? (bad boys are very nice as well! :P)

I liked the fact the romance between Caitlyn and Raphael isn’t immediate. There’s a good buildup of their relationship. They don’t immediately become a couple, which I appreciate.

What I really about this book is all the historical facts. Lisa Cach obviously did her research, which is great.

Another good think about this book is the mystery. You can tell there’s something going on in the castle and in Caitlyn’s dreams and you’ll want to find out what that something is exactly.

All in all, Wake Unto Me is a good book with a ghost story. The mystery and history in the book is interesting and intriguing and Lisa Cach’s writing style is definitely captivating.

I think any Young Adult Paranormal fan will be able to enjoy this book.

So says Jake Lassiter in “Flesh & Bones.” Or rather, he thinks it in interior dialogue, sometimes called interior monologue. It’s one way to reveal character and answer the reader’s question: Just who is this guy, anyway?

I’ll let Jake answer that question, but first I wanted you to know that the international bestseller “Flesh & Bones” is now an e-book priced for a short time at $0.99, with all proceeds going to Hershey Children’s Hospital for cancer treatment.

Now back to Jake: “A good lawyer is part con man, part priest—promising riches, threatening hell. The rainmakers are the best paid and have coined a remarkably candid phrase:We eat what we kill.”

The linebacker-turned-lawyer is a brew and burger guy in a paté and Chardonnay world. Noting the sign over the judge’s bench -- “We who labor here seek only the truth…” -- he adds his own footnote: “Subject to the truth being concealed by lying witnesses, distorted by sleazy lawyers, and excluded by inept judges.”

In “Flesh & Bones,” Jake’s client, model Chrissy Bernhardt, is accused of killing her father, claiming she had been raped by him as a child. Jake seethes at hearing this. Anger is not usually helpful in making important decisions, but with Jake, his fury helps form his legalstrategy:

“The male animal. At the low end of the evolutionary scale, he lords his physical superiority over women, beating and raping. At the very bottom, this horned beast is the father who would rape his own child. For a moment, I felt like killing Harry Bernhardt myself. Which made me think...if I get the jury to feel the same way, maybe I can win this case.”

Complicating the murder trial, Jake falls for his client, while at the same time doubting her truthfulness. All of which creates an ethical dilemma:

“My ethical rules are simple. I won't lie to the court or let a client do it. But I've never been in this position before. How far would I go for a woman who mattered? Is there anything I wouldn't do to win?”

Is he defending an innocent woman or a guilty one? Is there such a thing as true justice? Rather than answer those questions – and spoil the book! – I’ll leave you with Jake’s final thoughts:

We seek justice in the courthouse, just as we seek holiness in a house of worship. Justice is an ideal, a vague concept we strive for but can barely define. Justice is the North Star, the burning bush, the holy virgin. It cannot be bought, sold, or mass produced. It is intangible and invisible, but if you are to spend your life in its pursuit, it is best to believe it exists, and that you can attain it.

"I was sitting at the end of the bar sipping single-malt Scotch - eighteen-year-old Glenmorangie at nine bucks a shot - when I spotted the tall blond woman with the large green eyes and the small gray gun." The next thing linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter knows, the woman pumps three bullets into the man on the next barstool, then collapses into Jake's arms. The woman is the stunning model Chrissy Bernhardt, and the dead man is her millionaire father. Lassiter agrees to defend Chrissy and is soon enmeshed in a world of lies, deceit, and psychological riddles. Under hypnosis, Chrissy claims to remember being sexually abused by her father, but Lassiter suspects that the "recovered memories" were either implanted by a shady psychiatrist or fabricated by Chrissy herself. Lassiter digs deeper and finds a troubling connection between the psychiatrist and the greedy developer Guy Bernhardt, who steals other landowners' water and stands to gain if Chrissy, his half sister, is convicted of murder.

Review:

As a mystery fan, the blurb of this book immediately caught my attention and I’m glad I got to read it.

This is the seventh book in the Jake Lassiter series but you don’t need to read the previous books to understand this one.

The book starts with Jake relaxing in a bar after a day at work. Everything is okay and calm until Chrissy Bernhardt walks in and shoots the man sitting beside Jake. Jake is intrigued and becomes Chrissy’s lawyer. As he studies her case and investigates her past more and more questions arise, complicating her case even more.

Jake needs to find out if Chrissy really is just a victim as she says she is or if she is just a killer. The problem is, he starts to fall in love with her.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book and its plot. There are several plot twists that I really enjoyed and surprised me.

Jake is a very good main character. He’s a former linebacker turned lawyer. He’s a good and honest guy.

I didn’t like Chrissy as much as I liked Jake. She seemed just a little too spoiled to me but she’s, obviously, an important character.

All in all Flesh and Bones is an interesting book. Paul Levine was able to create an engaging and complex book.

The book was able to keep me entertained until the end. I think any mystery fan will enjoy this book.

I received this book from Tracee at Pump Up Your Book and Paul Levine in exchange of an honest review. Thank you!

So many posts today! Again, thank you so much for participating last week and letting me know who your Top Ten Couples and Top Ten Love Triangles are.

This week I'll ask you to let me know what your favorite book quotes are. I know this is a difficult form to fill so if you can't think of your favorite quotes, just tell me what characters you think have the best quotes out there.

Schedule:June 18th: Post about Top Ten Couples and Top Ten Love Triangles; Form for Top Ten Book Quotes

June 25th: Post about Top Ten Quotes ; Form for Top Ten Dynamic Duos/BFFSJuly 2nd: Post about Top Ten Dynamic Duos/BFFS; Form for Top Ten Book CoversJuly 9th: Post about Top Ten Book Covers; Form for Top Ten VillainsJuly 16th: Post about Top Ten Villains; Giveaway AnnouncementJuly 23rd: Winners Announcement

If you want to participate, fill in this week’s form. It is open until Friday (June 24th). Remember that by filling the form you're immediately entering the surprise giveaway!

You’ll notice in the form that you need to tell me at least three of your top choices for the week. That will count as one entry. Extra entries can be won by filling the form with more than just three options or by spreading the word about this feature and giveaway.

Good luck and thank you for participating! This is International!

And guess what? I've you've been participating in this feature I'll be hosting a little giveaway this week. The big surprise giveaway will only be hosted when this feature ends, though.If you have filled one of the previous forms or this week's form you're immediately entering the giveaway. I'll let you know all about this giveaway later today!